Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by TheSmiths82-87

A maximum of four albums per artist

• Chart updated: 01/18/2022 22:45
• (Created: 03/25/2013 15:38).
• Chart size: 100 albums.

There are 74 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 86 out of 100 (from 154 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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17. (16) 1

Songs Of Leonard Cohen 

 Leonard Cohen

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There were about 14 or so classic albums released in 1967, this is certainly in the top 2 or 3, but without wishing to sound too cynical, it's hard to imagine people looking back to 2015 in a few decades time and seeing the equivalent to the Velvet Underground, The Beatles, The Doors, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Kinks, and Leonard Cohen.

But anyway, here we have Leonard Cohen's debut album, his move from published poet to singer-songwriter is seamless, his debut is one of his very best collection of songs. What a piece of work Suzanne is for example, to try and analyse the lyrics would only break the spell of the poetry. Sisters Of Mercy is wonderful as is So Long, Marianne and another favourite of mine would be Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye.

Of course lyrically, Cohen is one of the very best of all time, but where the likes of Dylan have now and again released sub-standard material, Cohen's writing has never diminished throughout his career, you'd be hard pressed to find a throwaway line in his back catalogue. But why not start looking here.

Best Tracks:

Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye
Suzanne
Sisters Of Mercy
So Long, Marianne
Stranger Song [First added to this chart: 03/26/2013]

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

1,001 charts

Rank Score:

10,237

Rank in 1967:

7

Rank in 1960s:

25

Overall Rank:

150

Average Rating:

 84 (1,085 votes)

Comments:

42

29. (=)

Blue 

 Joni Mitchell

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I admit my top 100 albums is desperately lacking when it comes to female recordings. I am quite ashamed of this, and I do love lots of female artists like Joni Mitchell, Patti Smith, Kate Bush, The Sundays, Blondie, Echobelly, Amy Winehouse and the Slits.

But Blue by Joni Mitchell is my favourite album by any female artist, there isn't a bad track here and particularly my fave three tracks Little Green, A Case Of You and The Last Time I Saw Richard are pretty much genius, every track has wonderful lyrics, and as the album title suggests, a soothing sorrow permeates throughout these lines.

Best Tracks:

Little Green
A Case Of You
The Last Time I Saw Richard
California
Blue [First added to this chart: 03/30/2013]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,329 charts

Rank Score:

17,094

Rank in 1971:

6

Rank in 1970s:

21

Overall Rank:

76

Average Rating:

 85 (1,449 votes)

Comments:

108

37. (=)

Songs Of Love And Hate 

 Leonard Cohen

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Excellent 3rd album from Leonard Cohen, lyrically dazzling as you would expect, but it also has quite a rich sound despite the sparse instrumentation. Like this album, I think Cohen's voice is quite underrated.

Only 8 tracks is its only downfall, but it does contain two of his best in Last Years Man and Famous Blue Raincoat, but I get the feeling that in years to come a song like Joan Of Arc will have grown on me in stature.

Best Tracks:

Famous Blue Raincoat
Last Years Man
Joan Of Arc
Avalanche
Dress Rehearsal rag [First added to this chart: 03/30/2013]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

506 charts

Rank Score:

3,867

Rank in 1971:

22

Rank in 1970s:

109

Overall Rank:

465

Average Rating:

 83 (599 votes)

Comments:

21

51. (60) 9

Rust Never Sleeps 
Live

 Neil Young & Crazy Horse

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In my opinion only Bowie recorded more classics in the 70's than Neil Young, I'd say Bowie won roughly 10-8. It could be argued between about 5 Neil Young albums which is best but I have always chosen this one, it is recorded mostly live and has a bit of Dylan influence in so far as the first half being recorded acoustic and the second half electric, the opposite way round to Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home.

Best Tracks:

My My Hey Hey
Thrasher
Powderfinger
Pocahontas
Sail Away [First added to this chart: 03/30/2013]

Year of Release:

1979

Appears in:

642 charts

Rank Score:

4,577

Rank in 1979:

8

Rank in 1970s:

95

Overall Rank:

389

Average Rating:

 84 (855 votes)

Comments:

43

72. (=)

Songs From A Room 

 Leonard Cohen

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Best Tracks:

Bird On A Wire
Story Of Isaac
Tonight Will Be Fine
Seems So Long Ago, Nancy
Lady Midnight [First added to this chart: 03/26/2013]

Year of Release:

1969

Appears in:

310 charts

Rank Score:

1,924

Rank in 1969:

27

Rank in 1960s:

101

Overall Rank:

934

Average Rating:

 79 (389 votes)

Comments:

15

80. (87) 7

After The Gold Rush 

 Neil Young

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Best Tracks:

After The Goldrush
Don't Let It Bring You Down
Southern Man
I Believe In You
Only Love Can Break Your Heart [First added to this chart: 04/14/2013]

Year of Release:

1970

Appears in:

1,519 charts

Rank Score:

16,294

Rank in 1970:

2

Rank in 1970s:

22

Overall Rank:

82

Average Rating:

 86 (1,738 votes)

Comments:

129

82. (79) 3

Funeral 

 Arcade Fire

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Best Tracks:

Neighborhood #1 Tunnels
Wake Up
Rebellion Lies
Neighborhood #3 Power Out
Neighborhood #2 Laika [First added to this chart: 03/30/2013]

Year of Release:

2004

Appears in:

2,824 charts

Rank Score:

41,803

Rank in 2004:

1

Rank in 2000s:

3

Overall Rank:

15

Average Rating:

 88 (3,599 votes)

Comments:

400

90.

Harvest 

 Neil Young

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[First added to this chart: 05/01/2014]

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

1,322 charts

Rank Score:

13,222

Rank in 1972:

5

Rank in 1970s:

29

Overall Rank:

106

Average Rating:

 84 (1,665 votes)

Comments:

95

94.

On The Beach 

 Neil Young

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[First added to this chart: 05/01/2014]

Year of Release:

1974

Appears in:

785 charts

Rank Score:

7,927

Rank in 1974:

2

Rank in 1970s:

52

Overall Rank:

211

Average Rating:

 84 (949 votes)

Comments:

62

96. (90) 6

I'm Your Man 

 Leonard Cohen

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Best Tracks:

Tower Of Song
I'm Your Man
First We Take Manhatten
Take This Waltz
Everybody Knows [First added to this chart: 11/28/2016]

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

338 charts

Rank Score:

2,436

Rank in 1988:

12

Rank in 1980s:

112

Overall Rank:

737

Average Rating:

 79 (364 votes)

Comments:

15

Total albums: 10. Page 1 of 1

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition

Decade	Albums	%
1930s	0	0%
1940s	0	0%
1950s	0	0%
1960s	21	21%
1970s	36	36%
1980s	22	22%
1990s	16	16%
2000s	4	4%
2010s	1	1%
2020s	0	0%

Artist	Albums	%
Radiohead	4	4%
The Beatles	4	4%
David Bowie	4	4%
Pink Floyd	4	4%
The Doors	4	4%
Leonard Cohen	4	4%
The Smiths	4	4%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	55	55%
	30	30%
	10	10%
	4	4%
	1	1%

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes

Biggest climbers
Up 9 from 60th to 51st Rust Never Sleeps by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Up 7 from 87th to 80th After The Gold Rush by Neil Young
Up 2 from 81st to 79th Lifes Rich Pageant by R.E.M.

Biggest fallers
Down 6 from 90th to 96th I'm Your Man by Leonard Cohen
Down 3 from 78th to 81st Sweet Baby James by James Taylor
Down 3 from 79th to 82nd Funeral by Arcade Fire

New entries
Moondance by Van Morrison
Harvest by Neil Young
Veedon Fleece by Van Morrison
On The Beach by Neil Young
Saint Dominic's Preview by Van Morrison

Leavers
Is This It by The Strokes
Get Happy!! by Elvis Costello And The Attractions
Mud Slide Slim And The Blue Horizon by James Taylor
Happy Sad by Tim Buckley
Forever Breathes The Lonely Word by Felt

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 154 ratings for this chart.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
90/100	08/30/2022 10:53	Thearei30ee	18	88/100
95/100	08/14/2021 00:25	stangetzaway	159	89/100
70/100	06/14/2021 16:14	seb7	105	91/100
90/100	11/29/2020 10:32	Goliath	348	86/100
90/100	11/11/2020 23:16	leniad	687	85/100

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 86.5/100, a mean average of 86.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 86.5/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 9.0.

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums favourites

Showing all 10 members who have added this chart as a favourite

WillyMac

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 74 comments |
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Rating:  

70/100

From seb7 06/11/2021 17:03

wow, a whole 10/10 of the top ten of the overall chart, and your own top ten has nothing under the top 100! so original! And, you feature a whole 88 albums sitting within the top 1000.

It did surprise me that you favor the 70s like I do, but it's the same 70s albums that every basic user puts into their chart.

edit: discovered that it's actually 20/20 of the overall chart. Good job, Morrisey Simp

Honestly, I am just salty that you left the 75/100 and left no explanation or comment.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From leniad 11/11/2020 23:16

like

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From WillyMac 05/04/2020 17:05

I really like your chart and your commentaries. There are 19 albums the same as my chart. It's not just the usual suspects though but things like King of America and The Life Pursuit. Many of your other albums are bubbling under my top 100. Good to see Leonard Cohen getting some love...

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

95/100

From Strattonfox 07/31/2019 20:10

A truly excellent chart with some interesting views

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

85/100

From Globe02 07/05/2019 22:29

I really enjoyed your write ups for your chart, especially Dark Side.

Cheers!

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

85/100

From gidgidi 06/11/2019 22:23

Nice rock picks, cool chart

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

95/100

From hailey 01/28/2019 15:51

Pretty great chart!

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

75/100

From Julelios 11/09/2018 13:25

Nice chart !

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

85/100

From Medelsvensson 10/29/2018 18:41

Where is the hip hop? And the jazz?

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

75/100

From jeffrey-hodgson 10/12/2018 13:06

Don't completely agree but interesting choices

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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